HOW TO OWN

YOUR OWN

MIND NAPOLEON HILL

HOW TO OWN YOUR OWN

MIND NAPOLEON HILL

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Napoleon Hill was an American self-help author. He is known best for his book Think and Grow Rich, which is among the 10 Best-selling self-help books of all time. Hill's works insisted that fervid expectations are essential to improving one's life. Most of his books were promoted as expounding principles to achieve "success".

CONTENTS Introduction To How To Own Your Own Mind By Don Green, 5 Chapter One Creative Vision

9

Analysis Of Chapter One

64

Introduction To Chapter Two

90

Chapter Two Organized Thought

94

Andrew Carnegie’s Views

138

On Organized Thinking

138

Chapter Three Controlled Attention

175

Andrew Carnegie’s Analysis Of Controlled Attention 227 How To Own Your Own Mind

262

INTRODUCTION TO HOW TO OWN YOUR OWN MIND BY DON GREEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NAPOLEON HILL FOUNDATION  IN 1941, NAPOLEON HILL created and published seventeen booklets, each one setting forth an explanation of the principles of personal achievement Mr. Hill had developed from studying great American success stories for twenty years. He was inspired to do so when, as a fledgling reporter, he interviewed the great steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who outlined the principles of success and commissioned young Napoleon to commence an intense study of how these principles contributed to the success of the great men of the time, and of earlier times. He called the series of booklets Mental Dynamite, a phrase Mr. Carnegie had used to describe the seventeen principles. Very shortly after the booklets were published, Pearl Harbor was attacked and America entered World War II. In preparing for and ultimately winning that war, Mental Dynamite, with so many other things of significance but less importance than the war, was set aside by the American public. It laid gathering dust in the archives 5

of the Napoleon Hill Foundation until recently it was rediscovered, and it is now being reprinted by the foundation in book form. This book was created by our foundation putting together three related chapters of the Mental Dynamite masterpiece. Each deals with how to think before acting, and thereby how to recognize opportunities, define one’s Definite Major Purpose, and refine it until it is time to take action. When these chapters have been mastered, you will know how to own your own mind. The first chapter sets forth the principle of Creative Vision. Andrew Carnegie explains to young Napoleon in Mr. Carnegie’s study in 1908 that imagination is a primary component of it, and Mr. Carnegie provides examples of how imagination enables people to be successful in such apparently diverse activities as inventing and sales. But imagination has to be applied. “Fleeting thoughts” and “mere wishes” are not enough to create inventions and make sales, according to Mr. Carnegie; one must recognize opportunities, and act upon them. This is the essence of Creative Vision. Mr. Carnegie also details the ten principles of success that are used by all people who successfully apply Creative Vision. Dr. Hill follows the extensive quotations from his interview of Mr. Carnegie with his own commentary, written some thirty-three years later. He suggests a number of ideas for improving society and industry that could benefit from the use of Creative Vision, and many are amazingly ahead of their time. He then provides a number of examples of people of the then present day who had used Creative Vision to succeed. Considered together, the insights of Andrew Carnegie and Napoleon Hill provide a compelling lesson on how all of us can use our Creative Vision to recognize opportunities and attain our goals. 6

Chapter Two discusses the importance of the principle of Organized Thought. Through the use of three charts, Dr. Hill explains how one can attain and then use Organized Thought to succeed in controlling one’s destiny. I believe you will realize, as I have, that these three charts deserve repeated study, and that each reading of them reveals something new. They disclose how Organized Thought, willpower, and self-discipline interact with the faculties of the mind, the five senses, the basic human motives, and other success principles to produce results when—and this is essential—action is taken. Thoughts without action are ineffective. Dr. Hill explains how inductive and deductive reasoning and social heredity contribute to the development of Organized Thought. He explains the importance of habits, both good and bad, in influencing one’s ability to achieve Organized Thought. The chapter concludes with excerpts from young Napoleon’s 1908 interview with Andrew Carnegie, in which Mr. Carnegie details the positive things which can be accomplished by Organized Thought, and how its use by evil men is doomed to fail. Chapter Three is devoted to the success principle of Controlled Attention. Controlled Attention is concentration, and more. It is the means by which one’s plans are impressed on the subconscious mind. It is the process of controlling all the activities of the mind and directing them to a given end. It is essential to the implementation of Creative Vision and Organized Thought. Dr. Hill explains how the use of other success principles, such as Going the Extra Mile, the Master Mind, and faith, can intensify the ability to develop Controlled Attention and bolster one’s confidence. He provides examples of people who have combined many of the success principles with Controlled Attention to develop previously unknown solutions to problems. Dr. Hill also 7

sets forth testimonials from many famous and successful people about how important Controlled Attention was to their lives. A common theme is that one should control attention by focusing it on one major purpose rather than many. The chapter concludes with a further interview with Mr. Carnegie about the effects of the use of Controlled Attention. Controlled Attention leads to specialization in one’s life, which produces greater rewards than a generalized approach to a business or profession. It is essential to advancement and promotion in employment. And, when employed by the citizenry, it leads to the success of free enterprise and democracy, in contrast to a Socialist society, in which Controlled Attention, if utilized at all, ultimately withers and dies. Napoleon Hill’s best-known book is Think and Grow Rich. The chapters in the book before you help explain the reasoning behind that title. As Dr. Hill repeatedly emphasized, action is critical to success. But you must think before you act or your actions will be wasted. These timeless chapters about the importance of thought before action will prove to be very instructive in helping you attain your own Definite Major Purpose. To do so, you must learn how to own your own mind, and this book will tell you how to do it. The power with which we think is “mental dynamite,” and it can be organized and used constructively for the attainment of definite ends. If it is not organized and used through controlled habits, it may become a “mental explosive” that will literally blast one’s hopes of achievement and lead to inevitable failure. —Andrew Carnegie 8

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CHAPTER ONE CREATIVE VISION  A PHILOSOPHER SAID, “The imagination is the workshop of man wherein is fashioned the pattern of all his achievements.” Another thinker described it as “the workshop of the soul wherein man’s hopes and desires are made ready for material expression.” This chapter describes the methods by which some of the great leaders of America have, through the application of Creative Vision, made the American way of life the envy of the world. This chapter begins in the private study of Andrew Carnegie in 1908, with me, Napoleon Hill, as the student and reporter. HILL: Mr. Carnegie, you have said that Creative Vision is one of the principles of individual achievement. Will you analyze this principle and describe how one may make practical use of it? CARNEGIE: First of all, let us have a clear understanding of the meaning of the term “Creative Vision,” as we are here using it, by explaining that this is not merely another name for imagination. It is the ability to recognize opportunities and take action to benefit from them. An important element of Creative Vision is the use of the imagination. 9

There are two types of imagination. One is known as synthetic imagination and the other as creative imagination. Synthetic imagination consists of the act of combining recognized ideas, concepts, plans, facts, and principles in new arrangements. The old axiom “There is nothing new under the sun” grew out of the fact that the majority of things which seem to be new are nothing but a rearrangement of that which is old. Practically all the patents recorded in the Patent Office are nothing more than old ideas which have been arranged in a new order, or given a new use. Patents which do not come under this heading are known as “basic patents” and they are the work of Creative Imagination; that is, they are based on newly created ideas which have not been previously used or recognized. Creative Imagination has its source, as far as science has been able to determine, in the subconscious mind, wherein exists, through some power unknown to science, the ability to perceive and interpret new ideas. It is believed, by some, that the faculty of Creative Imagination truly is “the workshop of the soul.” Of one fact we can be sure, and that is the undeniable reality of the existence of a faculty of the mind through which some men perceive and interpret new ideas never before known to man. Later I shall cite well-known examples of such ability. Moreover, I shall endeavor to describe how this ability may be developed and made to serve practical ends. HILL: Which of the two types of imagination is used more often in the field of industry, and in the ordinary walks of life? CARNEGIE: Synthetic imagination is more commonly used. Creative imagination, as the name implies, is used only by those who have attained the means to apply this unusual skill. 10

HILL: Will you mention examples of the application of both types of imagination, giving as many of the details as possible in order that the practical methods of application of these principles may be understood? CARNEGIE: Well, let us take the work of Thomas A. Edison, for example. By studying his achievements we shall see how he made use of both types of imagination, although he used the synthetic type more often. His first invention to attract worldwide attention was created by bringing together, in a new combination, two old and well-known principles. I refer to the incandescent electric lamp, the perfection of which was attained only after Mr. Edison had tried more than ten thousand different combinations of old ideas without satisfactory results. HILL: Do you mean, Mr. Carnegie, that Mr. Edison had the persistence to keep on trying in the face of ten thousand failures? CARNEGIE: Yes, I mean just that! And I may as well here call your attention to the fact that men with a keen sense of imagination seldom quit trying until they find the answer to their problems. Mr. Edison perfected the incandescent electric lamp by combining two well-known principles in a new way. The first of these principles was the established fact that by applying electric energy to both ends of a piece of wire a resistance is established through which the wire becomes heated to a white glow that will produce light. That principle had been known long before the time of Mr. Edison’s experiments with the electric lamp, but the trouble arose from the fact that no way had been found to control the heat. Perhaps the facts would be better understood if I said that no form of metal or other substance had been found that could 11

carry the necessary amount of heat to make a satisfactory light for more than a few seconds. The intense heat of the electricity soon burned out the metal. After trying every known substance he could find, without discovering anything that would serve the desired purpose, Mr. Edison stumbled upon another well-known principle which proved to be the answer to his problem. I say he “stumbled” upon it, but perhaps that is not the precise way the principle came to his attention. Of that I shall have more to say later on. At any rate, there came into his mind the well-known principle by which charcoal is produced, and he recognized in it the answer to the problem that had caused him more than ten thousand failures. Briefly explained, charcoal is produced by placing a pile of wood on the ground, setting it on fire, and then covering the whole pile with dirt. The dirt permits just enough air to pass through to the fire to keep it alive and smoldering but not enough to enable the fire to blaze. The smoldering process continues until the wood becomes charred through and through, leaving the log intact, in the form of a substance known as charcoal. You of course learned, in the study of physics, that where there is no oxygen there can be no fire; that by controlling the inflow of oxygen the amount of heat of the fire can be controlled proportionately. Mr. Edison had known of this principle long before he began experimenting with the electric lamp, but not until after he had gone through thousands of tests did he think of it as being the principle for which he was searching. As soon as this principle was recognized as the one for which he was searching, he went into his laboratory, placed a coiled wire in 12

a bottle, pumped out all the air, sealed the bottle with wax, applied the electric energy to the two ends of the wire, and lo! the world’s first successful incandescent electric lamp was born. The crudely constructed lamp burned for more than eight hours. Of course it is obvious as to what had happened. By placing the wire in a vacuum that contained no oxygen it could be heated sufficiently to cause it to produce a light without its burning out entirely, as it had done when left in the open air. That same principle is used in the making of all incandescent electric lamps today, although the method has been greatly refined until the modern electric lamp is much more efficient than it was when Edison first discovered how to control the heat. Now, let us go back to the question as to how Mr. Edison came to think of combining these two old principles in a new way. I said he “stumbled” upon the idea of using the charcoal principle as a means of controlling the heat of the electric energy. But that is not exactly the way this idea occurred to him. Here begins, then, the entry into the picture of the principle of creative imagination. By his repetition of thought in connection with his problem, carried on over a long period of time, through thousands of experiments, Mr. Edison either consciously or unconsciously charged his subconscious mind with a clear picture of his problem, and, by some queer power which no one understands, his subconscious mind handed over to him the solution to his problem, in the form of a “hunch” that caused him to think of the charcoal principle. In describing the experience many years afterward, Mr. Edison said that when the “hunch” came to him he recognized it immediately as being the missing link for which he had been 13

searching. Moreover, he felt assured it would work, even before he tested it. He made the further significant statement that when the idea of using the charcoal principle “flashed into his mind” it brought with it a feeling of assurance of its suitability such as did not accompany any one of the other thousands of similar ideas he had tested, through synthetic imagination. From this statement we may draw the conclusion that the subconscious mind not only has the power to create the solution to problems, but it also has a means of forcing one to recognize the solution when it is presented to the conscious mind. WHEREVER you find a prosperous business, you will come upon some individual who has Creative Vision. HILL: From what you have said, Mr. Carnegie, I conclude that persistence was of the essence of Mr. Edison’s discovery of the solution to his problem. CARNEGIE: Yes, and some other factors, too. First of all, he began his research with definiteness of purpose, thus applying perhaps the most important of the principles of individual achievement. He knew the nature of his problem, but equally as important as this, he was determined to find its solution. Therefore he backed his definiteness of purpose with an obsessional desire for its attainment. Obsessional desire is the state of mind which serves to clear the mind of fear and doubt and self-imposed limitations, thereby opening the way for that state of mind known as Faith. By his refusal to accept defeat, through more than ten thousand failures, Mr. Edison prepared his mind for the application of Faith. HILL: Were all of Mr. Edison’s inventions created through the joint application of creative imagination and synthetic imagination, as in the case of the incandescent electric lamp? 14

CARNEGIE: Oh, no! Not by any means. The majority of his inventions were created solely through the aid of synthetic imagination, by the trial-and-error method of experimentation. But he did complete one invention solely through the aid of creative imagination, and as far as I know, this was the only invention he perfected through this principle alone. I have reference to the phonograph. That was a new idea. No one before Edison, as far as is known, had ever produced a machine that would record and reproduce the vibrations of sound. HILL: What technique did Mr. Edison use in the application of creative imagination in perfecting the talking machine? CARNEGIE: The technique was very simple. He impressed his subconscious mind with the idea of a talking machine and there passed over to his conscious mind a perfect plan for the building of such a machine. HILL: Do you mean that Edison relied on creative imagination entirely? CARNEGIE: Yes, entirely! And one of the strange features of this particular invention of Mr. Edison’s is the fact that the plan which his subconscious mind yielded to him worked almost from the first attempt to apply it. The idea of how such a machine could be produced “flashed” into Edison’s mind. He sat down then and there and drew a rough picture of the machine, handed it to his model maker and asked him to produce the machine, and in a matter of hours it had been finished, tested, and lo! it worked. Of course the machine was crude, but it was sufficient to prove that Edison’s creative imagination had not failed him. HILL: You say that Mr. Edison “impressed his subconscious mind” with the idea of a talking machine. Now, how did he go about 15

Napoleon Hill's definitive lesson on how to organize your thinking to attain success! The book will help us to understand the way we should process our mind. This book consists of three main chapters: 1. Creative vision 2. Organised thoughts 3. Controlled Attention In three compelling chapters, Hill demonstrates how to organize, prioritize, and act on information so that it translates into opportunity. Knowledge is not power. Only applied knowledge is power. This book teaches you how to use what you know, and how to know what's worth knowing.

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